Holiday service guide: what`s open and when in Hanoi. Here are the ones we recommend.

“La Ventura”: Guitar Duel by Le Thu and Thierry Bégin

You are invited to the Guitar Duel “La Ventura” by Le Thu and Thierry Bégin.

Le Thu, a talented Vietnamese-born guitarist, winner of the “Best Guitarist from Asia” award at the Calcutta Classical Guitar Festival, will join guitarist Thierry Bégin, winner of numerous international prizes on the stage of L’Espace.

A well-known and recognized guitar teacher, Le Thu is regularly invited to lead guitar master classes in several countries in Europe, North America and Asia. Meanwhile, Thierry Bégin is known for his “audacity, virtuosity and passion”, which makes his performances a rare musical moment, rich in colour and full of humour. This outstanding duo will certainly surprise classical guitar lovers with an exceptional repertoire dedicated to French music.

Time: Saturday April 6 at 8:00 pm

Venue: L’Espace, 24 Trang Tien street, Hanoi

Seminar “Adventure Playgrounds”

Think Playgrounds and their partners are launching a new “play” campaign with a brand new theme: Adventure Playgrounds.

Often mistaken for adventurous activities from high places, in the forest or out of the city, the concept of adventure is actually very different and related to urban issues. So what does adventure playgrounds actually mean, and how can it contribute to the development of children and children living in cities?

They have been working with the Japanese experts who have 20 years of experience making changes to urban playgrounds, and trying to create an adventure playground and a brand new occupation in Vietnam: Playworker! This might be a promising start for the future of urban playgrounds for children in Vietnam.

The participation of parents and teachers is of utmost importance to the adventure playgrounds, because the “playworker” will bring practical experiences to those closest to the children. They need to be the ones that understand the children and patient enough to hone their skills, judgement and analytical ability in order to create for the children their own spaces in the playground and help them find their places in society later on.

Time: Saturday April 6 from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm

Venue: F1 Auditorium, Building G3, National University of Civil Engineering, 55 Giai Phong Street, Hanoi

Workshop and Excursion: Ba Duong Noi Village (Kite Making)

Ba Duong Noi village is a 1,000 year-old kite making village; generations have kept this tradition alive. The kites are made in the shapes of crescent moons or boats, attached to wooden flutes. The wind passes through the flutes making lovely soft melodies. The village dates back to the 10th century Dinh dynast. Ba Duong Noi has a reputation as one of Vietnam’s major kite flying centres.

The elderly say once upon a time when Heaven and Earth were close, heaven’s fairies often came down to attend Earth’s festivals. But one day, the heaven rose higher and higher. The fairies couldn’t come down. People on Earth made kites as a way to restore contact with the heaven. People attached bamboo flutes to the kites to call the fairies to the earth’s festivals.

They are delighted Nguyen Huu Kiem, president of the Hong Ha Kite Club, has agreed to take time out of his busy schedule to host this event at the village where we will attend a workshop on how to make a small kite (miniature versions of the village kites).

This is now a regular feature in the village's calendar – where we take part in a kite making workshop (which precedes a visit to the village kite festival on the 15th day of the 3rd lunar month).

This is an afternoon activity where we make 1-2 small kites each. Feel free to bring additional items to decorate the kites. Mr. Kiem will also talk about the history of kite making in the village and the special flute kites. If there is enough wind we will try flying the kites we make.

Time: Sunday April 7 from 12:30 pm to 5:00 pm

Venue: Ba Duong Noi village, Hong Ha commune, Dan Phuong district, Hanoi

Satoshi Gogo Live in Vietnam 2019

Come to enjoy a finger style guitar concert featuring young talented Japanese guitarist Satoshi Gogo. Gogo won first prize in four different categories of the Fingerpicking Morris Competition in 2004 when he was just 16 years old, establishing himself as the youngest winner of all time.

Time: Sunday April 7 at 8:00 pm

Venue: Youth Theater, 11 Ngo Thi Nham street, Hai Ba Trung district

Hanoitimes